Gizmo Watch

Blind man sees again courtesy a tooth implant in the eye

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:19:19 +0000

An atypical tooth-in-eye surgery has restored the eyesight of Martin Jones. Blinded in an accident, the 42-year-old Jones was really excited to see his wife for the first time (after four years of marriage), when he pierced his world of darkness. In the event of the surgery, Jones’ front tooth was extracted to be used as a support for the lens, grafted from his skin, and placed in the right eye. Having lost vision in a tub of white hot aluminum explosion when he worked in a scrapyard, Jones had been blinded for over a decade now. He had lost his left eye, but docs then had managed to save his right eye, but he couldn’t see through it. Now, with the remarkable operation that’s got a man-made lens created from a patch of skin from the inside of the chin placed on a living tooth, helps the man to see again.

Via: DailyMail

RC submarines used to run fiber cables in sewers of Milan

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:33:59 +0000

Submarines are built for clean blue waters, with no thought that they’ll someday be submerged into sewers. The unlikely is made real by an Italian company which has employed an RC toy submarine to run fiber cables through the sewers of Milan. The toy sub used is the Neptune SB-1 developed by a Taiwanese company, Thunder Tiger. The $600 submarine hooked with the fiber-optic cables is made to sail in the sewerage drains, planting the cables in the entire stretch and then to get off at the other end. Do they reuse the ones that are drenched in all that crap again? Holy s**t, that’ll be sick if they do. But I think this is cost effective and moreover the human labor is spared of the dirty job.

Via: HobbyMedia/Slashdot/CrunchGear

Faking work becomes easier with Bristol TV

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:41:00 +0000

Finally, a real feasible solution to live out both passions of watching TV for sporting events and surfing the net to knows what’s topping the gadget world. Enough of the TV tuner cards, time to take home a full digital television set that doubles as a PC. Initiated by Bristol Interactive, the Freeview TV to PC will be made available in 22- and 32-inch versions, with a screen resolution of 1680×1050 pixels.

Now, turning a TV set into a PC running Windows XP is just a click of the remote away. The PC here is Atom-powered, with 1GB internal memory plus 160GB hard drive. Supporting four USB ports and an RJ45 Ethernet port for connection, the PC is coupled with a circular air mouse and a wireless keyboard.

These Bristol TV sets are completely independent of PC functions and lack Wi-Fi, however, will make a good companion for all needs in your living room, kitchen or bedroom. The 22-inch model is expected to hit UK markets sometime by October for less than £500 (about $800), so start saving up your hard-earned money for this worthy entrant.

Via: Guardian

Authentic Victorinox Swiss Army knife crafted in exotic wood

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:49:27 +0000

I very recently bought one of those regular red Swiss Army knives for myself. I haven’t had a real opportunity to use it in the wild yet, therefore I am planning a trip very soon, but I know its capabilities really well. Given to the craze, this Victorinox Swiss Army SwissChamp Hardwood Knife has actually lured me for it authentic make, and I am questioning myself on my purchase now. With all features and unities of the original well intact in the make, this wooden framed Swiss knife is worth the $100 tagged as the price for this craftsmanship.

Via: SwissArmy/Uncrate

Wearable sensor and laser beams to track workers

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:18:35 +0000

In my place of work there is no check on an employee’s movement, and me being one, I keep loitering around for most of the day all unchecked. Employers in Japan have an urge to know what their workers are up to and thus DSS has developed a system to record the actions of the factory workers, so thank God I’m not in Japan, to hell with my robotic fanaticism this time.

The system includes an ankle sensor, a milestone and a pocket video camera to record a worker’s movement, time of work and actions respectively. Equipped with a gyro sensor and an acceleration sensor, the ankle sensor tracks a worker’s coordinates and then records them in the embedded memory, and the milestone records entry and exit times of the workers with infrared beams, while the camera sitting in the pocket keeps track of your movement.

Via: Tech-on

Helping the blind see through 3D images of sound

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:32:46 +0000

A consortium of research institutes and Universities is developing a system prototype, which with the help of clever algorithms and technology to convert spatial information into 3D acoustic maps would enable the blind see. For real-time image processing, Boffins from the University of Bristol have designed an algorithm that helps identify objects and obstacles. While researchers from the University of Laguna, Spain, have devised a technique to transform that visual image into 3D pictures of sound.

Imbibing the technology, two prototypes have been developed and tested in real world environment by the visual impaired. M1 is the first prototype, which has a glass mounted system using laser sensors to calculate distance between obstacles and objects with 0 to 5m in a 60º field of view, thus helping the blind recognize chairs and trees, from the sound picture they receive.

Adding to the same is M2 the second prototype, which has two digital cameras attached to the helmet to notify of the moving object and its path. Thus, the blind by wearing headphones is able to recognize objects around him through sound alterations with movement. Letting the brain interpret objects as points in spaces, the stereo audio system along with the lasers and cameras (which work as the blind’s eye) pushes the voice to be louder as the object is approached and lighter as the person moves away from it.

With the movement of the head the system also alters sound so that as the surrounding changes the vision for the blind changes accordingly. If the obstruction falls on the right the sound it heard on your right, and vise versa, and when something is approaching the person, the equipment warns him with sound asking him to move aside. The technique has considerable potential and I think the blind would definitely benefit from this novel method if it can hit production at affordable cost.

Gemsta Viva is a Vaio P clone from China

Bharat — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 07:33:21 +0000

When we first saw pictures of the Lenovo Pocket Yoga, an ultra-portable PC, we thought Sony’s Vaio P was under theat. What we forgot then was the fact that China was the biggest threat to just about anything in electronics. We must have overlooked, but the Chinese remembered their bit and have thus delivered a similar pocketable laptop but in a slightly less portable form factor. That is because the Gemsta Viva, as the Vaio P clone’s named, has a competitively larger 8.9-inch screen and four hours of battery backup, while the price tag is drastically low at 2000 yuan ($294).

Other strikingly similar features include:
• CPU: Intel Atom Z515/Z520/Z530
• 1 GB memory
• Storage: 16GB/32GB, up to 64GB
• 8.9-inch, 1024×600 resolutions
• LED Backlight
• Core integrated graphics
• Intel Poulsbo US15W chipset
• 1.3MP webcam
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• 3G
• SD Card Slot
• VGA, LAN support

Via: ClonedinChina/PMPtoday

SmallPC's new 22-inch waterproof touchscreen LCD is appropriate for all outdoor conditions

Bharat — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:27:04 +0000

Waterproof LCD’s aren’t new to us, but for their creation, the LCDs have always found a special place with us. This time it is SmallPC, who for the first time have introduced SD220E, a widescreen waterproof LCD display which supports a 22-inch touchscreen with resolution of 1920×1080. Designed in full aluminum exterior, the LCD is besides being water resistant is apt for all outdoor environments owing to its dust, dirt, water and oil proof make. Wall, desk or arm mountable the display is good introduction for gamers, geeks and business professionals alike but how many takers will come up to pay $2295 for it is questionable. Other novel features include:

• Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 30000:1
• Brightness - 300 cd/m²
• Horizontal and vertical viewing angle - 170 degrees
• Analog (VGA) and DVI input options
• USB or RS232 Resistive Touch Screen
• Colors: 16.7 Million
• Weight: 18 lbs

Via: PR-inside

Self-Portrait Machine helps you draw your own face

Bharat — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:43:47 +0000

You thought you were a great artist but not good enough to draw yourself on paper however? The glitch is over now, as Jen Hui Liao’s Self-Portrait Machine is here to help you sketch yourself. Any guesses how? Your hands are tied to the drawing robot, which after clicking your picture guides the hands (holding pencil of course) into drawing a realistic self-portrait of yourself. The bot’s been developed with an intention to enhance the man-machine relationship giving the human the ability to create his own personality identity. We have talents, but this one’s really amazing.

Via: WeMakeMoneyNotArt/Gizmodo

EMTEC delivers Nvidia ION based GBox nettop PC

Bharat — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 11:14:58 +0000

Not sure is the desktop computers have lost to the notebooks and netbooks, but because there is still notable movement in the genre, we cannot just sum that up. After the likes of Acer and Asus the latest to make an innovative sneak off the workshops is EMTEC with GBox nettop PC. Featuring the Nvidia ION, the nettop PC is about an inch thick, runs Windows XP and has a GB of RAM and 160GB hard drive. The nettop will have 6 USB ports, there is no release day mentioned yet, but the price for the model is quoted at £179 or about $300. Video after the jump.

Via: TechDigest